Why hospitals say LePage’s plan to fund Medicaid expansion won’t work

The Maine Hospital Association called a suggestion by Gov. Paul LePage that it pitch in to fund Medicaid expansion “absurd”

The Maine Hospital Association called a suggestion by Gov. Paul LePage that it pitch in to fund Medicaid expansion “absurd” and rejected his claim that the hundreds of millions of dollars in uncompensated care it provides every year is because of what the governor called “bad business decisions.”

The dispute comes as the debate over how to extend taxpayer-funded health care to 70,000 more Mainers is set to resume Monday with the lawmakers voting on LePage’s veto of a bill that would provide funding for the first year. Though LePage has not produced a formal proposal, he has been touting the idea and has the authority to submit new bills whenever the Legislature is in session.

On Thursday, LePage said during a radio interview that increasing the hospital tax could cover the cost of expansion and that if more Mainers received taxpayer-funded Medicaid, hospitals could reduce or eliminate bad debt and charity care.